The Venezuelan Connection in Mexico

2a quincena junio 2007

A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela. Edited by Walter Lippmann.

original:
http://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2007/junio2/htm/conexion_venezuela_mexico.htm

Fernando Ortega Pizarro

The Miinistry of the Interior evaluated the impact in Mexico of the Bolivarian Movement, its relations and contacts, registered its activities and mapped the risk of the presence of Chavez activists in the country.

After the withdrawal of the Venezuelan ambassador in Mexico, Vladimir Villegas, after a diplomatic conflict between both nations in 2005 the Mexican government did not expect that the efforts of this diplomatic representation to boost the Bolivarian Movement in the country would decline, reveals an intelligence document of the Ministry of the Interior. 

“Quite the contrary, the risk is marked and takes form that it attempts to strengthen, covertly, through funding and intelligence work of ideological recruitment with related Mexican groups,” the document points out. 

The ministry made studies to evaluate the characteristics of this movement, to document its actions to link it in Mexico and outline the risks that this situation implied in the context of the diplomatic conflict of Mexico with Venezuela during the Vicente Fox government. 

The first evaluation was done by Vladimir Villegas while he was still the Venezuelan ambassador in Mexico. He assures that the Bolivarian Movement (BM) is a dual national strategy boosted by Venezuela and Cuba to form a social force to confront policies and ideologies of the United States. 

“Both nations boost the so-callled ‘Bolivar Sword Project’ that implies forming a Latin American region as a counterweight to the United States and promote integration in the area under conditions of equality among the nations.” 

The BM is present in  Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. It has representatives in Australia, Spain, France and Switzerland.

During this moment of election effervescence, the Ministry of the Interior – headed by Carlos Abascal – noted that, to date, there is no organic link of the BM with the political movement headed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador”, although the federal government and later PAN links it to President Hugo Chavez.

But, after the expulsion of the Venezuelan ambassador, a second analysis by the Ministry of the Interior in 2006 reveals greater details of Venezuelan relations with left wing parties and groups, primarily with the PRD.

It states that the BM “maintains a clear approach to the Nueva Izquierda del PRD movement. With a lower frequency and level of penetration it maintains ties with members of the Partido del Trabajo, Convergencia and the Partido Popular Socialista. Occasionally it has contacts with members of the Mexican Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Party”.

The ministry then assured that the strategic objective of Chavez seems directed to establish an alliance with the PRD that it considers with possibilities of victory in 2006. However, it noted, the AMLO strategic design still does not consider an organic relationship.

It notes that “the relationship of the BM with that party is mostly through specific leaders, primarily of the New Left.”

The Ministry document further explains that the Mexican Bolivarian Movement (MBM) is sponsored by the Venezuelan and Cuban embassies in Mexico and the Mexican Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, coordinated by Peter Geller.

At the same time the MBM is made up of three entities of the Bolivarian-Mexico Continental Coordinator “Its representative, Luz Gabriela Mejia Leyva, also maintains ties with FARC. It has direct communication with Hugo Chavez. It has headquarters in Guadalajara, Jalisco and has an official representation of the Mexican Bolivarian Movement.

It is linked to the Mexican Solidarity with Cuba Movement, the Coalition of Urban and Farmers Democratic Organization, the Mexican Solidarity with the Peoples of Colombia Movement and the Mexican Simon Bolivar Committee.

It also has ties with the Núcleo Mexicano de apoyo a las FARC, the Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa, la Promotora por la Unidad Nacional contra el Neoliberalismo and the Mano Izquierda.

The Bolivarian Movement of the Mexican peoples, “directed by rodrigo Lucena, operator in the Venezuelan embassy, does intense work of linking with social and political organizations. It has representatives in the

El Movimiento Bolivariano de los Pueblos en México, “dirigido por Rodrigo Lucena, operador de la embajada de Venezuela, despliega intenso trabajo de agregación con organizaciones sociales y políticas. Cuenta con representantes en el DF, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca y estado de México, quienes a su vez son representantes del Movimiento Mexicano de Solidaridad con Cuba. Impulsa el Comité Mexicano de Solidaridad con Venezuela”.

Está articulado al Comité Premio Internacional Benito Juárez, Movimiento de Liberación Popular,  al Movimiento Proletario Independiente y Frente del Pueblo. También al Comité Amigos de Puerto Rico, Círculo Bolivariano Ricardo Flores Magón, Unidad Obrero Socialista y Son de Maíz.

Y Movimiento Mexicano Juarista Bolivariano (MMJB). “Lidereado por Cuauhtémoc Amescua Dromundo. Ha construido juntas populares en el país. Su presencia es marginal y sin base social”.

Está vinculado a la Coordinadora de Solidaridad con la Representación Bolivariana de Venezuela, Red Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, Movimiento de Lucha Popular, Ollín Mexicana, Jóvenes por el Socialismo, Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas, Frente Popular Francisco Villa y Red Juvenil Cubana.

Espionaje a perredistas

También menciona los vínculos de Venezuela con el PRD:

1. Vladimir Villegas visita Michoacán y en diversas ocasiones sostiene encuentros con Lázaro Cárdenas. Su primera visita al estado la gestiona el diputado Juan Pérez Medina.

2. Militantes del PRD asisten a la presentación del agregado político de la embajada, Néstor González Pacheco (octubre, 2005).

3. Vladimir Villegas contactó a través de Juan Pérez Medina a José María Pérez Gay, responsable de Política Exterior del equipo de asesores de AMLO.

4. Vladimir Villegas estableció estrechos vínculos con funcionarios de la delegación Coyoacán.

5. Los diputados perredistas Emiliano Ramos (federal) y Rafael Quintanar (local, Quintana Roo) participaron en Caracas, en marcha de apoyo a Chávez.

6. Los diputados Beatriz Mojica, Cristina Portillo y Francisco Saucedo, del equipo de Jesús Ortega, despiden en la residencia de Venezuela a Vladimir Villegas (15/11/05).

7. Vladimir Villegas entrega bandera venezolana a integrantes del PRD en Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México(15/11/05).

8. Vladimir Villegas tenía programada una cena con los diputados federal Emiliano Ramos Hernández y Beatriz Mojica, así como de integrantes de la corriente Nueva Izquierda”.

La Secretaría de Gobernación preveía que “el escenario de una relación orgánica y abierta del MB con el PRD sólo es viable en el contexto postelectoral. En caso de triunfo, para consolidar un frente internacional contra el neoliberalismo; en tanto que, en la hipótesis de derrota, para sumar fuerzas en un postelectoral conflictivo”.

Estimó que la presencia del Movimiento Bolivariano en México es marginal.

Sin embargo, aclaró que el Movimiento Bolivariano “intentará capitalizar el diferendo diplomático reforzando su activismo bajo la conducción del encargado de negocios de Venezuela, Néstor González Pacheco y de la Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana-México, que se enfocará en las acciones de agregación social”.